The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has launched an investigation at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) after a package with cocaine was unearthed in the baggage hold of a Dynamic International Airways Flight that arrived at the John F Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York from Guyana on Tuesday evening.
Reports are the package with the illegal substance was placed into the baggage hold by a local handler and was discovered by a handling staff while clearing the luggage from the aircraft upon its arrival in the US. The handler at JFK alerted his supervisors and the drug enforcement unit at the American airport.  Guyana Times understands that the cocaine weighed just over two pounds.
Several handlers have already been questioned about the matter as investigations continue. Drug enforcement officers are working on the theory that the cocaine was placed in the hold and was supposed to be collected by a particular individual in the US.
The US authorities are assisting CANU in its investigations. Of recent, the Unit has been successful in intercepting cocaine as persons attempt to smuggle the lucrative illegal substance through the CJIA.
However, there have been some cases where the illegal substance passed through security and ended up on the aircraft, but was intercepted at the JFK International Airport. In light of these occurrences, the Unit and the Police Narcotics Branch have beefed up their surveillance at the main port of entry.